Bob Gabriel's POW record
Bob Gabriel's story is similar to other POWs of the 99th Infantry Division.
He entered the service on April 19, 1943, and went overseas with the 99th on Sept. 28, 1944.
On Dec. 17, 1944, he was captured near Malmedy and forced to walk to Bonn, nearly 50 miles. The prisoners stayed there two days and then went to Limburg, where there was no room. They went by boxcar and on foot to Hammelburg, staying from Dec. 27 to mid-January, when they were sent to a commando group at Bergsinn.
Bob worked in the forest until Easter Sunday, when they were forced to march to Nuremburg, Munich, and on to Dachau, where they were liberated by the 45th Division of the 3rd Army. The walk was 270 miles.
He was discharged Dec. 6, 1945.
His mother kept this record while Bob was a POW. She received a telegram from the War Department Jan. 4, 1945, saying Bob was missing in action since Dec. 18, 1944. On March 14, 1945, she received notice that he was a prisoner of war.
Gabriel died Jan. 7, 2006.
